Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2021 stage 16: Sacile - Cortina d'Ampezzo 212km

[Netserk]

Among the things Vegni said there is this: "We agreed on shortening the stage but told the riders we want a true race and we keep the Giau descent":
Which implies a number of things.

Yes, very revealing.

 

[Red Rick]

Among the things Vegni said there is this: "We agreed on shortening the stage but told the riders we want a true race and we keep the Giau descent":
Which implies a number of things.

Like wtf is this.

 

[Eclipse]

What is two steps below a Queen stage? A Horse stage? .

Pantani 98 TdF and Hampsten 88 Giro surely won in far worse conditions?

The Duchess stage I suppose.

 

[PeterB]

Come on, it's their race, they can do with their stages anything they want. If the organizers do not feel comfortable taking the race through all three passes, so be it, just live with it. I understand that die-hard fans can feel betrayed but I hope that you are likewise passionate also about other things in your lives which really matter, unlike just some sporting event...

 

[titan31]

"I think it’s the best decision. The riders want to race the stage and put on a show but the stage was going to go over 2000m three times. We hoped for an improvement in the weather and tried to do the whole stage but looking at the forecasts for the high mountains they could get worse.
"We didn’t want to expose the riders to risks in the high mountains and I want to thank RCS Sport for taking the best decision possible. The Passo Giau is still set to be raced in the hope the weather improves during the day.
"The riders will race hard and put on a show."

This is very clear: Some riders requested it, don't know how many, the CPA went with them. They are blaming the weather, saying the riders would want to, but, unfortunately, absolutely not possible. Essentially they aren't saying they wanted the stage to go ahead with this weather, but they would have like it in better conditions.
Sorry, Redhead, yes, at least some riders are whiny. I know it's a tough stage, but if you don't want things like this you can do track. Rain and descents and cold and high mountains are part of GT road cycling. It's not only a pity for us viewers but even more so for the riders who would have liked to do the stage in full.

It's also against the riders best long term financial interests for this stuff to keep happening. Cycling is a niche sport, you can't afford to keep pissing off the fans if you want to be secure financially imo.

 

[SafeBet]

How many Giro stages have been partly neutralized / cancelled / shortened in the last 10 years? I've lost count but it's way too many to be acceptable for me.
If Giro is not deemed a safe race in May then riders, teams, sponsors, cycling associations, etc should work for a different calendar. Doesn't make sense to hold a race which is almost 100% going to be modified every year.

 

[roundabout]

But it was literally impossible for the race to get there, so they didn't really have a choice.

It's not an argument of choice/no choice, it's just that having the finish infrastructure set up at the original finish location is no reason for that location to be impossible to change

but meh, whatever

 

[Amazinmets87]

I'm still staring at the quote "the weather can change in the mountains".
End of discussion I guess.

I stand by what I said. If the mountains are too dangerous today, don't ride them. Replace the stage with a flat or low altitude hilly one. To tell us that the mountain descents are too dangerous, but conveniently not the one which leads to the finishing town is insulting. It's blatantly disingenuous.

 

[RedheadDane]

Sorry, Redhead, yes, at least some riders are whiny. I know it's a tough stage, but if you don't want things like this you can do track. Rain and descents and cold and high mountains are part of GT road cycling. It's not only a pity for us viewers but even more so for the riders who would have liked to do the stage in full.

But some people are making it sound like the riders demand cancellation every time the weather gets just a little bit unpleasant.

 

[gregrowlerson]

The Duchess stage I suppose.

As fas as I know there is no duchess on the chess board.

 

[Velolover2]

It will become a more explosive stage now. Bernal must be happy.

 

[Valv.Piti]

WTF

Who the *** are in charge of these stupid decisions?? Vegni? Fire his dumb ass

 

[titan31]

How many Giro stages have been partly neutralized / cancelled / shortened in the last 10 years? I've lost count but it's way too many to be acceptable for me.
If Giro is not deemed a safe race in May then riders, teams, sponsors, cycling associations, etc should work for a different calendar. Doesn't make sense to hold a race which is almost 100% going to be modified every year.

Yup, do a rotation with the Vuelta so every 2nd year one is in August and the other is in May. Allows both GTs to show off their full range of terrain every second year at least them. As is, Giro is always stuck and they probably should just avoid doing anything over 2000m in May even if we lose out on great climbs.

 

[Skalman]

Man, this years Giro really goes from bad to worse

 

[PeterB]

I'm waiting for the day that they go

"I know we scheduled a meh short mountain stage, but the weather is great let's do a 5000m altitude gain Tappone"

But that's exactly the point - it's always just one-way street. And it's the same in any sport.

 

[BigCoward]

How many Giro stages have been partly neutralized / cancelled / shortened in the last 10 years? I've lost count but it's way too many to be acceptable for me.
If Giro is not deemed a safe race in May then riders, teams, sponsors, cycling associations, etc should work for a different calendar. Doesn't make sense to hold a race which is almost 100% going to be modified every year.

Just swaping giro and vuelta would solve this problem?

 

[gregrowlerson]

How many Giro stages have been partly neutralized / cancelled / shortened in the last 10 years? I've lost count but it's way too many to be acceptable for me.
If Giro is not deemed a safe race in May then riders, teams, sponsors, cycling associations, etc should work for a different calendar. Doesn't make sense to hold a race which is almost 100% going to be modified every year.

Why not just hold it a month later in June? Very few riders do Giro and Tour.

 

[BlueRoads]

Come on, it's their race, they can do with their stages anything they want. If the organizers do not feel comfortable taking the race through all three passes, so be it, just live with it. I understand that die-hard fans can feel betrayed but I hope that you are likewise passionate also about other things in your lives which really matter, unlike just some sporting event...

I am.

 

[Netserk]

Interview with Vegni where he basically confirms that the route was raceable and that the shortening is on the initiative of the riders.

 

[Mayomaniac]

How many Giro stages have been partly neutralized / cancelled / shortened in the last 10 years? I've lost count but it's way too many to be acceptable for me.
If Giro is not deemed a safe race in May then riders, teams, sponsors, cycling associations, etc should work for a different calendar. Doesn't make sense to hold a race which is almost 100% going to be modified every year.

I'd swap the Giro and the Vuelta, but the Vuelta will never agree to this...
Anyway, it looks like the gc teams wanted to race the normal stage.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yup, do a rotation with the Vuelta so every 2nd year one is in August and the other is in May. Allows both GTs to show off their full range of terrain every second year at least them. As is, Giro is always stuck and they probably should just avoid doing anything over 2000m in May even if we lose out on great climbs.

That's actually quite cool. Not the least because at the same time the Vuelta in August has it's risks of it's own kind of extreme weather, namely extreme heat.

 

[MrTea1976]

Anyway. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy the great stage.

And if it is - as I certainly hope it will be - I expect all of the complainers to have some self-awareness.

 

[Netserk]

As fas as I know there is no duchess on the chess board.

The Bishop Stage.

 

[hrotha]

Come on, it's their race, they can do with their stages anything they want. If the organizers do not feel comfortable taking the race through all three passes, so be it, just live with it. I understand that die-hard fans can feel betrayed but I hope that you are likewise passionate also about other things in your lives which really matter, unlike just some sporting event...

"Why do you care about races in this forum about racing".

 

[Eclipse]

It's also against the riders best long term financial interests for this stuff to keep happening. Cycling is a niche sport, you can't afford to keep pissing off the fans if you want to be secure financially imo

Definitely doesn't help. The Giro is always a great race for epic climbs and passes but long term if you can't make them happen you will start to have riders looking at things and thinking "do you know what? I don't want to risk having my best terrain cancelled out" and a weaker field = weaker fan attention too.

How many Giro stages have been partly neutralized / cancelled / shortened in the last 10 years? I've lost count but it's way too many to be acceptable for me.
If Giro is not deemed a safe race in May then riders, teams, sponsors, cycling associations, etc should work for a different calendar. Doesn't make sense to hold a race which is almost 100% going to be modified every year.

This is what I mean by #movethegiro

Over the past decade the norm has become that some decisive stages are not ridden as intended. If it's felt that the weather is just too problematic at this time of the year for modern safety standards then try and find some alternatives so that everyone gets the race they want.